We stayed at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Ridge, MD through (Friday, 9/27) because of the strong northerly winds. Mostly stayed on the boat and relaxed. The nice thing about this location is that it’s rural and peaceful. The downside is that it’s rural and peaceful so there’s nothing to do. Brian (the measurer) and his wife, Mary, came by the boat this evening and offered to take us to the Dollar General and invited us to breakfast tomorrow. How nice are they? But, we had already made plans to leave so couldn’t take them up on their offer. Maybe on the way back.

Julie came down the dock in the morning to check on her four crab pots. Interestingly, yesterday we had a gentleman searching for crabs come by in his dinghy. He was fishing the floats and pilings for crabs, and he gave us a “crab lesson”. He says that the male Blue Crab protects the female by cradling her for several days after she molts and is vulnerable to predators.  During that time, she develops an external egg mass which may contain between 750,000 to two million eggs. Amazing! Anyway, we said bye to Julie and her four crab pots and left the Corinthian Yacht Club on Saturday (9/28) morning for Solomon’s Island Yacht Club, Solomon’s, MD.

We had a nice trip across the Bay and arrived at Solomon’s around 1:00. In a light rain, we hopped off the boat and had lunch on a covered patio, overlooking the boat, at the Light House Restaurant next door to the Club. This Club is also a down-home, volunteer run Club located close to several restaurants and shops but no grocery close by. In the evenings we enjoyed cruises in Scout-About and having drinks and chatting with several of the very nice and friendly members. We filled Scout up with fuel and pumped her out and left on Tuesday (10/1) morning for Oxford, MD.

The trip back across the Bay was easy-peasy this time. When we made reservations at Tred Avon Yacht Club in Oxford, MD., we were told to just pull into any slip we wanted. On arrival, it appeared that we had the Club all to ourselves. There was only one boat in a slip in the whole marina.  Unfortunately, they are only open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 to 4:00, so another pretty quiet place. The doggies loved their small private beach and we enjoyed watching the TAYC juniors sailing just off our stern on Tuesday evening. Located close to an extremely charming residential area, we walked on old brick sidewalks by lots of vintage homes, manicured yards, and under canopies of huge trees. The bricks on the sidewalks seemed to change direction every few feet and the tree roots like to push up through them so navigating was a little difficult and we decided it would be wise to change from flip-flops into walking shoes.

On Wednesday (10/2) we decided to go to the Hinckley Service Yard Marina just a mile around the bend. OMG, what beautiful boats! Our yachting friends know the name “Hinckley” but for our non-boating friends – to me, Hinckley is synonymous with exquisite yachts. They are beautiful and they are expensive, so it was a real treat to see so many in one place. This yard has their own climate-controlled hanger where they store yachts for the winter. Michael suggested to Chris, the dockmaster, that maybe we could rent a space in the climate- controlled hanger for the winter. Her comment – of course you can, but you’ll have to depend on the vending machine for food. Ha ha. We were also moored just across the fairway from Cutts & Case Shipyard. The photo of “Foto” speaks for itself. We think that Scout may have gotten a little jealous being around all those thoroughbreds but no need to worry, Scout, you are perfect for us.

We went for several more walks in the lovely town of Oxford. When we paused to admire a particularly beautiful home with manicured grounds, the owner came outside to say hi. We chatted with Russel for about an hour. He told us the community consists of about 670 people but around December/January the population shrinks to about 300. But, he says, you definitely know when it’s Spring – you know the saying “when the swallows come back to Capistrano”? Well, here, it’s “when the Hinckley’s come back to Oxford”. He says there’s a steady stream of Hinckley’s (including Martha Stewart’s) traveling to the yard to get a tune-up before the Season begins. Hmmm, that must be a beautiful sight.

Thursday (10/3) left the lovely Hinckley’s and headed for Annapolis where we’ll stay for the weekend and attend the power boat show. That should be a kick. Will keep you posted……